Sunday, 30 December 2007

Regular readers of my blog will know of my love of football. Normally around this time of the week following a road trip this season I would be posting the latest instalment in my Stadium Tour of Scotland. This week I'll be postponing that entry.

The reason is that yesterday's trip passed two scenes of tragedy. Firstly just as we were starting out from our Stadium came the news that there was a major crash on the Westbound M8 which we would have to navigate around. As we passed the scene having come through Harthill on the Edinburgh Road we saw the Air Ambulance had landed, 5 ambulances, numerous police and three fire engines were in attendance. We knew it was a very severe incident even then. As we resumed our trip along the M8 the Clyde Health Special Operations van also passed us heading to the scene. A scene that was still being worked at as we passed again 6 hours later.

As we carried on our trip to Dumfries take us down the M74 from where you can see Firhill home of Motherwell. On our return trip this coincidence took on even greater significance.

For any football hearing that any other game has had a major incident treating a player that delays their finishing time is heart rendering. We all hope the player although obviously potential seriously hurt can make a recovery. So was our initial reaction when we heard that Phil O'Donnell the Motherwell captain had been the subject of 5 minutes of treatment on the park following a collapse as he was being substituted.

We continued on our way and past the still lit up Firhill, when the saddest news of all that a player who just that afternoon had been taking part in the game we loved had died. All talk of how our own team had done went by the way.

Bill Shankley famously said "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that". Sadly since Shankley said those at the time inspirational words on many occasions they have proved hollow and today is another day on which they are proved wrong.

If you wish to pay your respects to Phil or add you condolences there are many ways already set up to do that.

His club Motherwell FC have this page where you can email your tribute to the club.

I know there are others and your own teams site may well have one as well. If so post the link especially to one of the two above as football fans of every colour shirt and scarf will always tend to mingle at a time such as this in one community.

Friday, 28 December 2007

Ok Norfolk Blogger is telling us that the cause of death of Benazir Bhutto may be a strange one. However, he is quoting Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema the Interior Minister, a close assosiate of President Pervez Musharraf, Ms Bhutto's opponent, who says she died from a a fractured skull as the result of banging her head on the lever for the sun roof. Now I'm not sure what speed the car was going at, due to the crowds it was distinctly slow so that would have had to be some knock to achieve what is claimed.

Now forgive me for being a little cynical of the Musharraf government at present, but the surgeon who treated her Dr Mussadiq Khan said she had died of a shrapnel would from the bomb blast. While Rehman Malik Ms Bhutto's security adviser who was at the scene said he thought she had been shoot. Now being someone who studies history I know the importance of first hand accounts which these later two are. Mr Malik is not the only one to speak of gun shots before the bomb went off.

The Daily Mail has Reuters pictures which do show blood on the handle, but an imapct wound of someone falling would not have produced quite so much blood so quickly on a sinking frame especially on a woman wearing a headscarf. They also show x-rays which show trauma to the head and a fractured skull. But what exactly caused that fracture would still be open to debate.

Maybe once the Diana enquiry is out of the way some paper will run with this for as long as Diana conspiracies has been hanging around. Though knowing our press and their coverage of world affairs I doubt it will last more than a few weeks, if that.

As is the Islamic custom Benazir Bhutto has been buried before nightfall. With her death being so late that meant today. The Bhutto family are as much martyrs for their country as the Neru/Ghandi family across the border in India.

But what next for Pakistan?

At the moment there are three days of national mourning for the ex-Prime Minster the first female to hold such a position in a Muslim state and plans are still going ahead to hold the elections on 8 January. It is the plan to remain on track with the process of politics that is causing some concern.

Ms Bhutto's rival Nawaz Sharif, who was also a former Prime Minister who was also in Rawalpindi yesterday has said his party will boycott the vote if it goes ahead on in 11 days time in response to the attack.

The violence that has erupted around Pakistan overnight has almost claimed as many lives (17) as the initial attack which claimed Bhutto and her supporters (at least 20). Unrest is something that is unlikely to subside swiftly and this could still be having an effect on elections not too far away.

Obviously the best result for the region is to return to as much normality as possible as swiftly as that is sensible. But for President Pervez Musharraf maintains on track thinking it convenient and opportune, when the leader of the largest opposition party has only just been laid to rest, would appear to many eyes to be potentially self-seeking, but also may backfire on him. It may lead to enhance the anti-Musharraf feeling, and also without someone who was willing to at least move forward with him, although in recent weeks that relationship was becoming strained, he will need the support of more and less influential individuals to advance along democratic lines, especially with Sharif effectively ruling himself out of the equation.

Democracy is not yet dead in Pakistan, but if people aren't careful in the next few days it may suffer fatally under an overhasty stampede, but could also die of neglect if not advanced appropriately. The life support machine is heavily reliant not just on the actions but the timing of those actions.

Thursday, 27 December 2007

In October when Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan only for her cavalcade to be subject to suicide bombers I did asked where next?

With the elections less than 2 weeks away on 8 January, she was out at a rally in Rawalpindi when yet again she was subject to a suicide bomber. At the moment this attempt appears to have claimed significantly fewer lived than the 130 who died on the day of her return from exile.

Reports as to Ms Bhutto’s own safety have slowly been emerging. Initially she was reported as safe, then injured, now reports from one of her PPP party security officials are saying that she is badly injured.

Earlier in the day also in Rawalpindi 4 people died ahead of a rally that was to be attended by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Update:

The latest that is coming through from Reuters is that Benazir Bhuto has died in hospital following this attack.

If this is the case she came back to her homeland knowing the dangers she could face seeking to allow democracy to come to Pakistan and she has paid the ultimate price.

Update 2:

The latest according to the BBC's scrolling headline is that Ms Bhutto was shot in the neck and chest before the gunman became a suicide bomber. If that is the case there would have been very little chance of her surviving as her closest aides would also have been taken out by the blast of shots at the point of the blast as chaos ensued.

Sunday, 23 December 2007

After a week of freezing fog i the central belt some Livi fans were recollecting a previous trip to McDiarmid Park when the game was abandoned in the 80th minute after fog made it impossible for play to continue. We were glad when we arrived that although the car park was frosty that the lights in the houses on the hill to the south were still clearly visible.

Location

The only league side in British Football to contain the letter J does not come from somewhere called St. Johnstone, nor should it be mistaken with Johnstone in East Renfrewshire. It is the team of the Fair City of Perth on the River Tay.

It is conveniently located just off the City's by-pass to the west of the City on land donated by local farmer Brian McDiarmid after whom the new stadium is named.

The Ground

Opened in 1989 it is deemed to be the first of the modern football stadia, with 4 covered seated, single tier stands holding a maximum on 10,673. There are no obscured views from any seat. Three of the stands are of equal height with the Main Stand to the West being a little higher. The South Stand is the Ormand Stand named after Willie Ormand the teams most successful manager to date. However, in recent years only the main and east stand are opened for league games due to attendance levels unless a big match is being hosted. For our visit we were seated in the Northern half of the Main Stand which is accessed half way up from the raised level of the car park on that side of the hollow in which the ground sits.

In the North East corner is an electronic scoreboard, which can keep excited and nervous fans updated of the scores elsewhere, and brought the news after full time in Perth last year that Gretna with a late, late goal had sealed promotion to the SPL instead of the Saints.

The Atmosphere

The atmosphere was cracking as every at McDiarmid Park, and although we didn't have another fan run unto the pitch our fans kept singing for most of the game. Which when you get to the match report you'll find all the more surprising, especially if you've ever been to Almondvale.

The Programme

Cost £2.50. As expected not a match to last week's zenith, but still a worthy programme. 32 pages and this week featured an early St. Johnstone versus Johnstone game in a little bit of history. The opening notes commented that Colin Mcmenamin had yet to score on his return on loan from Gretna, and predicted that he didn't expect last season's top scorer in Scotland's maiden strike to be long in coming. He proved to be better than Mystic Meg 14 minutes into the game.

Pie and Bovril

£1.10 for hot drinks with the water steaming out of a tap in front of you from the servery counter. £1.30 for a steak and gravy pie. Mine was fine but one of my neighbours said theirs was cold on the inside.

Well it was pantomime season and I had jested with one Saint's fan on Pie and Bovril the Scottish Football forums, when he asked surely we couldn't beat them again, responded with oh yes we could, before laying a few conditions, based on our inconsistent showings thus far.

Well the game certainly started looking like oh yes we could. Livi started strong and started to dominate. Time and again getting into danger areas. Before Colin McMenamin got his head on the end of the ball and guided it into the back of the net. The old chant of his name at last resounded from the Livi choir in goal celebration, me very joyfully as I have the Livi number 9 in the sweep from the coach trip up.

However our joy was all too short lived. St Johnstone started to find their feet on the hard pitch and too often the Livi players started to lose theirs. Andy Jackson after some applied pressure got what was a deserved equaliser, but from the starts we were getting more and more anxious about the amount of space and opportunity that we appeared to be giving another team for the second game on the bounce. We were hoping for a goal ourselves, possibly from our other striker Steven Craig. When a Craig scored though it was Saint's defender Liam scoring his first goal for the club in the 41st minute. So for the second week on the trot we conceded a cheap but inevitable goal just before half time.

Livingston came out with a little renewed vigour at the start of the second half but it was soon snuffed out when Rocco Quinn burst through the non-existent defence to grab a third. Things then went from bad to worse and time and again the Livi players were leaving gaps on the park and two and sometimes three Saint's players had time space and no real challenge as they advanced.

We were just hoping there wasn't going to be a fourth goal from the home team. Livi have been in 8 games this season where 4 goals or more have been scored by one team, winning three 4-0, one each 5-0, 4-3 and 4-2, we have also been on the wrong end of 4-0 and 4-1 defeats. However with 18 minutes remaining Jackson scored again making it 4-1 followed 6 minutes later by a fifth from Peter MacDonald.

As I said before the fans were still singing backing their team and when chants of we want six appeared to be misconstrued by some of the players the chant was swiftly changed to '6-5 we're gonna win 6-5'. Just before the fifth goal Tam Pesir came unto the field and started to show the bit we'd been lacking for most of the game it was he who concluded the scoring more or less bang on the 90 minutes, sadly the ref didn't allow any additional time for us to attempt to get the three goal we still needed to draw level the spoilsport.

Effect on the relative teams' positions. Morton didn't need asking two weeks in a row their draw at Firhill lifted them back above Livingston who dropped back to 6th and it could have been worse if Clyde's pitch hadn't been frozen causing an abandonment. St Johnstone on the other hand benefited from Morton's result leapfrogging Partick into 3rd spot. Winning their game in hand over the top two to bring them within 13 points.

Next time its the third of three consecutive road trips as we head South to Dumfries and Palmerston.

Saturday, 22 December 2007

Today whould have been my father's 65th Birthday. Sadly in February this year he passed on at the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast.

Today's TV listings would seem to reflect his not being around. The last ever Parkinson a reflection by Michael on his career is tonight. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie, his eldest son's favourite sci-fi is on. Dad was a big sci-fi fan himself and I am working my way through his collection of books.

Also today I'll be heading off to Perth for the St. Johnstone game, another link on this day to my father as his mother was born in a similar sounding and spelt town in Ireland.

Thursday, 20 December 2007

For starters making room for Ed Davey as Shadow Foreign secretary is Michael Moore, who has been demoted within the same remit to Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. Ouch! Sorry giving him a change or field rather than sitting behind Ed would have been kinder. Although good to see the member for the only Lib Dem seat I've ever lived in getting recognition for his versatility.

Alistair Carmichael remains in situ as the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland. The two countries of the UK closest to my heart keep up the good work Alistair.

Danny Alexander whilst remaining as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is also Chair of manifesto group and the new Leader's chief of staff following Ed Davey. So a good day for one young Scottish MP.

Not so for another, Jo Swinson, who I recently watched in a excellent recent adjournment debate on allergies, has been Scottish Spokes person and then Woman and Equalities both roles she fulfilled admirably has been overlooked. I'm sure Jo will bounce back sooner rather than later though.

But our newest Scottish MP Willie Rennie has found himself in a new post that of Chair of Parliamentary campaigns team.

"It matters less to me than to know they are honest and reliable and that what beliefs they have they hold sincerely"

So said Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury on Nick Clegg's one word answer to the question in a Radio 5 interview about whether he believed in God. For the record the word was no.

And OK I'll admit the son is not that of the current Moderator of the Church of Scotland but our own former leader Lord Steel, whose father as well as being a former-Moderator was once the Minister of St. Michaels in Linlithgow. Who said of Clegg's response:

"He is very straight-talking. I think that is quite typical of him."

Tony Blair didn't want to reveal his true religious convictions in Downing Street for fear of being branded a nutter. Maybe that should have been the least of his problems, what with Carol Caplin, phantom weapons of mass destruction and obeying voices from the current occupant of the Oval Office.

To fill up our overcrowded prisions with people using mobile phones while driving even if using a hands-free kit. We'll leave the terms of dangerous driving up to the discretion of our infallible Police forces.

(side margin still visible) Does Jacqui realise just what she might be opening herself up for if she gets this through?(reply) The Private Office is hoping she hasn't, is two years really long enough?

Now have a nice Christmas everyone, and don't panic we can't do anything about any of this until the new year.

Monday, 17 December 2007

Lord Falconer the former Lord Chancellor, who originally backed Tony Blair's plans to extend the period of detention without charge limit for terror suspects, has said there is no need to extend it from the current 28 day limit to the 42 which now appears to be latest Labour ultimate answer.

He now joins the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith and the Parliamentary committees on Home Affairs and Human Rights to criticise such plans.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secrtary say she will be looking for a compromise but if even some of the former 90 day supporters are not sure of advancing further it looks hard pressed that this will be forthcoming.

We're in the depths of December but at this point of this seasons Odyssey of the Irn Bru Scottish Division 1 grounds we wind ourselves in one of the coldest most exposed locations imaginable; Broadwood home of Clyde.

Location

Clyde currently play at Cumbernauld, although they were originally from Rutherglen. You can see the fast Edinburgh to Glasgow railway line from the stadium and Croy station is the nearest station, although getting from there to the stadium can be a chore. However, there is amble parking around hte stadium, although the signs for the away fans parking does disappear just at the crucial roundabout if heading south past hte stadium. Just remember once you pass the floodlights at the next roundabout turn right, you'll see the only sign on the exit and then mind the speed humps on the approach to the stadium.

The Ground

Has the air of being unfinished about it largely because there are currently three excellent stands and a big hole to the north with a corrugated iron wall behind that goal line, over which many a ball disappears into the marsh beyond. The Main Stand to the East of the pitch and the opposing West Stand were the first two to be completed at Clyde's third permanent home, after Barrowfield Park and Shawfield Stadium. And were first used in February 1994 after an almost 8 year wandering first to Firhill (Partick Thistle) and New Douglas Park (Hamilton Academical) who will feature later in this season's travels.

The three stand put down is often aimed at Clyde fans on message boards, that plus their current distance from the Clyde. But it is one of the many first division stadiums that meet the current seating requirements for the SPL, although they would have to install a good undersoil system if they ever were to find themselves in such a position. (Ironically the game the following week was called off to a frozen pitch)

The Atmosphere

Both sets of fans were housed in the Main Stand, which although it left vast areas of empty seats did concentrate the fans atmosphere to close quarters. Shouts and gestures were easily aimed at the rival support in this game where both teams held the upper hand at times.

The Programme

Cost £2.50. This is award winning stuff, and rightly so has been the Scottish Football programme of the years every season since the 1995-6 season. It is 76 pages from multiple contributors on a whole range of issues, history, form, stats etc. It also has 8 pages dedicated to the visitors which was thoroughly researched and up t date.

Pie and Bovril

Good steak pie served here and an excellent cup of bovril. I forgot to note the price so will have to check on the second visit later in the season.

Having watched our Lions beat the league leaders the week before the away support was pumped up for more of the same. The proximity of Cumbernauld to Livingston making this virtually a Derby match also meant there were some unfamiliar faces in the travelling support.

And the Livi Lions carried off where they left off against Hamilton. Playing flowing football which was rewarding in the 8th minute by another Graham Dorran's goal, when he headed in a Robert Snodgrass cross. Somehow the stadium announcer and subsequently Clyde fans believed that Snoddy had scored as a result of his own cross. If he did I've never seen anyone move that fast. We may not have a 20 goal a season striker but Graham is almost on track to be a 20 goal this season midfielder. After the goal went in we continued to apply the pressure for maybe another 12 minutes but didn't find that elusive second goal. Then the home side started to wake up to the fact that their long ball and hope tactics weren't working and looked for more productive ways to get into the Livi half. Unfortunately our defenders and midfield started to give Clyde the room and time to refine these tactics more carefully.

Having not had that second goal our early joy turned to anxiety as we hoped that we might hold out under this sudden arrival of pressure until half time so that the manager Mark Proctor could pull the team together with some words at half time. Sadly Clydes Craig McKeown finally got what was a deserved equaliser in the 43rd minute and the Clyde support suddenly came back to life.

The second half it appeared that only one team had come out to play. Livingston didn't seem to be wanting to get back ahead. With 15 minutes to go with the Livi goal under increasing pressure the inevitable happened and Neil McGregor ran past our defence and slotted home what turned out to only be the winner. Colin Stewart managed to pull off three spectacular saves which prevented the scoreline being worse than it was. 2-1 in the end flattered Livi another case of Jekyll one week Mr Hyde the next.

Effect on the relative teams' positions. Morton lost more heavily than Livi so our spot in third was actually strengthened from goals scored to goal difference. Clyde however, jumped over Queen of the South into 7th place.

Next time it's off to last season's happy hunting ground of McDairmid Park, Perth home of St. Johnstone.

Sunday, 16 December 2007

Well they like lauching probes look at their one into cash for Honours and now it looks like the SNP are about to be probed themselves. The Lib Dems in Scotland are to call for a Parliamentary enquiry into the SNP's governments handling of the Donald Trump golfing resort planning application over recent weeks.

We need transparancy and confidence in our planning procedures and just how the Government at Holyrood can get involved. There is a tangled web of subdefuge and different stories from different sides to allow this to exist at present.

Obviously the SNP are up in arms about all this. But just what were Swinney who called in the application and the First Minister Alex Salmond doing and talking about at luxury locations with Trump represnetatives and the man himself on 3rd and 4th December.

However, the man whose planning application caused all this political fallout has shown a far greater sense of honour and responsibilty than the Government. Donald Trump has apologised to Martin Ford the former chair of Aberdeenshire Council's infrastructure services committee for the way things worked out. Mr Ford was the man whose casting vote vetoed Trumps plans the other week.

The latest twist in the Trumpgate saga now is that the pressure group Sustainable Aberdeenshire are looking at mounting a legal challenge against the Scottish Goverment's decision to call in this planning applicaation a mere 5 days after it was rejected by the council committee.

Saturday, 15 December 2007

1. In most committees should a vote be tied the Chairman's casting vote is normally cast to maintain the status quo and not to effect change.

2. Also local representatives on planning committess have always been left free to vote as they see fit on each local decision, and any hint of bullying or bribing a decision is usually investigated fully.

So now we get to the crux of the matter. The SNP are accusing someone else of sleaze over a issue they are far from clean on. The Scottish press seem to be letting them get away with their own misdemeanors The Herald is quiet and the Scotsman after initially pointed it out ran a balance piece today which is laughable, Trump as the new Carnegie don't make me laugh.

Somehow on Monday Alex Salmond met with a certain American Billionaire, who starred in the US version of a show fronted here by Alan Sugar, before 24 hours later one of his cabinet, alledgedly without his knowledge, called in said billionaires planning application for review at Holyrood. Now either Alex Salmond has far more developed Alzheimers than Terry Pratchett or he really does believe he has inherited the moniker of Teflon off the early Tony Blair years.

Apparently the accusation is that Nicol Stephen has accussed a senior civil servant of lacking integrity because he called the chief executive of Council where the planning issue was overturned while representatives of the Billioniare's where in the room with the civil servant. The minister who made the decision to call in the plan for review had been at a similar development by the Billionarie in America 48 hours before the announcement on Tuesday, and only the day before his boss met with the Billionaire himself.

There are two many links between the largest party in Holyrood and this organisation to make me content to expect the environmental concerns to be looked at with the same serious as the local council planning copmmittee. A committee which told the Billionaire this area needed to be addressed and if done so his application could be re-issued for thier approval.

Sadly one side is trying to prove they can bring investment to this country early in their administration, as they look to push for independence. Sadly they seem to be wanting to do so against the concerns of the nation they have been given custody of to look after.

Ok so the American's have come up with a compromise that means that unlike Kyoto they have signed up to the Bali Agreement. But at this time of year when many of us are undergoing our annual performance review and setting objectives for the forthcoming year we are all aware that a good objective is a SMART objective, one that is Specific, Measureable , Achieveable, Realistic and Time Bound. So how does what has just been agreed in Bali measure up against these criteria.

Specific: Ouch we don't start well. Apparently we have agreed to curb climate change. But all we have done is enter a new stage of negotiations over the next two years in order to achieve that. Admittedly we do still have 4 years to run on the Kyoto Protocal which many of today's signaturies had signed up to, but not the USA, Russia and China the big three polluters. So we have no real specifics yet and at the end of negotiations we'll probably find oursleves back where we are now with a reluctance by the USA to set specific targets and China saying that reductions will affect their economic growth.

Measureable: It appears that the only measure is that in two years we will have reached by negotiation a new set of emmission targets. Judging by some of the major stumbling blocks from even getting to agree to negotiations I don't see these limits resulting in a greater reduction than was laid out in Kyoto, and that just scares me.

Acheiveable: Can we expect the USA and China, to be able to agree with the rest of the world who do seem to want to achieve something that something can be done, in just another two years. I'm hoping for a Democrat win in 2008 as that might be our only hope of at least one of those players coming on board in that time. As for China they seem to be geared up for an industrial take over of the world, which finds them lagging behind other's largely due to their terrible recent history of the Cultural Revolution squashing all their own nations intellectuals.

Realistic: Part of this sadly I do see as being acheiveable, having the nations talking for two years about this subject is definitely realistic. After all we've been trying to persuade others for the last ten years. Coming to an agreement that will be helpful at the end of that two year chat now that is where realism goes out the window. The USA were almost on board with Kyoto under the last Clinton adminstration, and would have probably signed up but for some hanging Chads. What is going to happen in the next 12 months Stateside is going to have a massive impact on just how realistic it will be to have a Global agreement at the end of that timeframe.

Time-bound: Well yes this is time bound, two years to come up with new emmission targets, which gives a 2 year lead up peirod for those already on board to gear up for the next stage.

Personally I think that the same old unwilling participants in this whole process are again dragging their feet, digging their heels into the ground and holding on to what they have always had. I'd love to be proved wrong in two years time but somehow I wouldn't hold my breathe too much.

Thursday, 13 December 2007

As has been noted before on this blog I am an avid reader of the novels of Terry Pratchett. So it was with shock that I read this morning, that not only had he had a minor stroke but had also be diagnosed with a rare form of early Alzheimer's.

The Author says he still has a few books in his yet. Nation is nearing completions and Unseen Academicals (possibly based on Saturday's performance at the football) is well annotated ready to roll. I shall be treasuring these and however many more he can produce from now on. I just hope they can find an equivalent of Dried Frog Pills with which to treat him.

Having had a Grandmother who suffered Alzheimer's I know that if they have diagnosed him early he may well have many years and many novels left in him yet. However, for those who want to know more or want to know how to give to research into trying to find a cure for this yet incurable disease I have provided two UK links below.

T'was the PMQ's before Christmas and all round the House nothing was stirring not even a mouse, the members and press were waiting for killer Cable's last stab to the heart.

He started by merely asking which of the disasters that have battered the infant Brown Government would haunt him over his Christmas sprout. Brown tried to side step the issue, thanking Vince for his contributions as stand-in leader in recent weeks, but speculating that with the rate of change in the Lib Dems he might be back there for Prime Minister's Questions soon.

Vince then uncoiled another killer put down, "Given his [the Prime Minister’s own position, he might not be wise to speculate about leadership elections." The opposition benches let rip their laughter, the Labour side looked like they'd only found an empty box under the tree for decorative purposes.

I'm not so sure about Vince Cable for Strictly Come Dancing, but Mock the Week and Have I Got News for You might have another Lib Dem who could follow Charles and Lembit.

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

The white van pulled up outside Holyrood yesterday the words Salmond and Co covered by layers of dirt that have been being picked up recently. Out hopped Nicola Sturgeon to size up the job at hand. With a pencil firmly wedged behind her ear she eyed the place up. From the Borders to Shetland, from the Hebrides to the North Sea, she saw a juicy job that her contracted firm could carry off.

It needs fixing up and we’ll have to take down the connecting walls to the neighbours. But don’t panic you’ll still be living in a nice European community. All we need is you mark on this piece of paper and leave the details to us.

Now I know designer make-over shows are all the rage, and I know that these are done with very little consultation as to what that will entail. However, comparing the move to independence, or the move to devolution, to one is not the same. For a start with devolution there was a whole consultation period, but the SNP would like to gloss over this due to their non-participation in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, which met from 1989 to produce its final report in 1995. So when people came to vote on devolution they weren’t totally in the dark as to what it entailed, just as the Good Friday Agreement was but to referendum in Northern Ireland for the establishment of devolved power there.

Yet on the front page of the Scottish Edition of the Time today the SNP are not prepared to lay out in advance what Independence is going to mean, merely ask the Scottish public to vote yea or nae and leave the details of what all is going to be involved until later, in negotiations between the Scottish and Westminster Governments.

Well I’m sorry but that is a case of we don’t want to people to know what we’ll be doing but expecting them to vote for it anyway. Now we know the truth SNP don’t trust us with the detail of independence to make up our minds. In which case people of Scotland should all vote no 100%, until we can be trusted to vote on detail and can make an educated judgement.

Tuesday, 11 December 2007

I wanted to digest this news before passing comment on it and now I have reflected here is my take.

Now I'm sorry dispite all the protestations that come out of Linlithgow's most powerful son, he is anything but a mere constituency MSP, in the same way that the MP for Kirkaldy and Cowdenbeath is anything but merely and MP.

Imagine the uproar there would have been if say a certain billionaire with dubious taste in hairpieces had been turned down by Fife council for a £1bn pound proposal in an environmentally sensitive area, say near Burntisland. If the local MP had taken a key interest in trying to overturn such a decision I would gaurantee that the Scottish Nationalists would be up in arms about abuse of power.

Alex Salmond can rant on about cash for honours, but he must realise that what he appears to be doing is not as a mere mortal of an MSP looking after his constituents. He is using his standing as far more than just that to attempt to steamroller one level of democratically elected government to appease a very wealthy man.

Now I'm not saying that I either agree with the council or Alex over the issue. I have not studied all the papers. I know there were environmental concerns, which even some of the objectors have said if these were redressed in an appropriatee manner and resubmitted may lead to a new golf complex being established. The local planners have seen the full proposal, they have come to a close judgement which was only decided by the casting vote of the chairperson. So there obviously are benefits and costs that are finely balanced.

If the SNP are truely looking out for the best interests of Scotland and its people they'd better start acting like it. Let the people decide what is best for them, they are started to appear as control-freakish as Labour, if they call this in. They are prepared, it would appear to steamroller, over environmental concerns. This hardly surprises me as they intend to fund an independent Scotland largely on oil money, harder a greener Scottish pound if they get their way.

So take heed, watchout for golf balls flying from Bute House, as Alex practices in his official residence to be ready for his new 'friends' golf venture, but also watch out for just how an independent Scotland will affect Climate Change. Either one could hit you and leave a lasting effect.

Monday, 10 December 2007

Hamilton, the league leaders, came a visiting at Almondvale on Saturday. Now they play in red and white hoops so I have no idea why they felt the need to change into their change strip, but change they did, and it looked somewhat familiar.

Their Nike shirt was yellow with green trims on the cuffs and collar, their shorts were a very familiar shade of blue and the socks white. My initial reaction as with those around me is isn’t it a bit precocious to dress like Brazil.

Well they may have worn the clothes but they weren’t Brazil. They didn’t even threaten the Livingston goal in the first half and all the action was heading towards Bryn Halliwell in the Accies goal. The only Livi player who didn’t look up to speed was Robert Snodgrass who had been out for the last two games. Heading towards half time Mark Proctor had signalled Keaghan Jacobs to get out there and warm up so it looked like even the manager was thinking of making a change at half time, something that Snoddy later confirmed was the intention.

That was until Snoddy unleashed almost on half time a magnificent cross into the box which was just an inch or so ahead of the incoming head of Colin McMenamin, who is still looking to get of the mark on his return on loan from Gretna. This was to be Colin’s best change of the afternoon.

The second half started and the Accies at least seemed to have turned up a little but Livi’s keeper Colin Stewart handled everything that was thrown at him. But a beautiful build up down the right flank by Graham Dorrans, Dave MacKay and Thomas Pesir was worthy of Brazil and the cross in fell for Snoddy for his first goal on 52 minutes. He added a second latter and had a couple of other decent attempts to get his hat-trick. When Mark Proctor finally made a substitution triple. Snoddy didn’t realise he was coming off, or maybe didn’t want to, looking for a change to earn his first senior hat-trick.

So seeing as Hamilton brought the who analogy up with their team colours and position on top of the league. We may have played like Brazil, but it was like beating Brazil.

Friday, 7 December 2007

Sorry if I’m bit late in the week updating you on my footballing travels through the Irn Bru Division 1 grounds, but I’ve been a bit busy at work recently what with settling into my new position and everything. So here’s is my summery of my second trip of the season to the home of the Ton, Greenock Morton.

Location

Cappielow is in Greenock along the road that runs along the south bank of the River Clyde. As a seasider by birth it is closest I get to having the smells of home whilst watching my football.

Like our trip to Dunfermline the expected delays beyond Harthill on the M8 failed to materialise so yet again all our coaches ended up at the ground a lot earlier than anticipated. But this most have been welcome news to the Chippie at the NE corner of the stadium who did a roaring trade in his fine chips at other things to the hungry masses of Livi supporters.

The Ground

The Livi fans were one again seated in the Main Stand at Cappielow, which is the southern side of the stadium. Although unlike our Challenge Cup visit earlier in the season we were allowed less seats based on where the lines of segregation tape where placed.

Cappielow is a real throw back stadium maintaining a lot of old features and attributes missing from modern all-seater venues. The two ends are open to the elements. The Western End is the Wee Dublin End, and has unbacked seating formed out of the former terracing. The Eastern end is the Sinclair Street end where ardent Morton fans stand on the exposed terracing however on Saturday this was largely empty.

Opposite the Main Stand is the Cowshed, which is largely terraced but has a small section of seating at the front on either side of the halfway lines.

However, the toilets the away fans have to use are situated down the back of the Wee Dublin end and the gents leave a lot to be desired and I’ve been in toilets blocks in the Soviet Union when it still existed that were luxuriant in comparison.

The Atmosphere

Sadly although Morton have a large support for this level their support were not very vocal when we visited on Saturday. Although this may have been down to the way their team performed especially in the latter part of the match.

The Programme

Cost £2.50. Is made by the same printers as Livi’s MDP. However, the visiting team details although slightly altered from our first visit had some factual inaccuracies due to not being thoroughly checked from the first time the pen pictures were used. Sadly as if to appease the Old Firm supporters in their midst both Celtic and Rangers achievements in Europe featured in the opening pages.

Pie and Bovril

Not a static servery but a mobile van is located in the corner between the Main and Wee Dublin stands. Very reasonably priced £1 for a Bovril and a variety of freshly grilled options available as you would expect from such a van.

I was confident going into this game on the sweep stake on the Coach over I had drawn the clubs two leading scorers Graham Dorrans and penalty taker Dave MacKay. So I was hoping for one of these two to clean up early so I could relax and enjoy the game. In the end Graham did score in the first ten minutes but only to equalise 3 minutes after Chris Miller got on the end of a ball send over from just in front of us from around the penalty spot. Dorrans a few minutes later made a run on the Morton goad and got a slight deflection to score from 20 yards.

For the first 20 minutes or so both teams were doing their best to take the lead. But with a lot of effort and little to so for it, but slowly Livi started a domination of the game that was only briefly broken when down Morton's left Ian Russell found space between youngster Keaghan Jacobs and Dave MacKay to allow he to swerve one in from all of 25 years that seemed to confuse Colin Stewart in goal by heading in at the last minute.

However, once again Livi weren't behind for long when Dave MacKay sent a cross into the box where Jason Kennedy made amends for being ruled offside the last time he netted here in August by equalising again.

The second half was all one way. Livi's Manager Mark Proctor if he'd brought the kitchen sink would have thrown it on as every else was being aimed at McGurn in the Morton goal.

On loan Colin McMenamin still looking for his first goal since his return to the Lions was clean through on a raking run, beat the keeper only to see his shot bounce off the outside of the post. Thomas 'Tam' Pesir scorched one in from all 20 yards which dipped enough to hit the topside of the crossbar only a moment later. One corner resulted in 4 or five stops from Morton keeper and defenders. A close range header from Dave Mackay and shots from Pesir and Dorrans were all somehow kept out by McGurn who surely should have been Morton's man of the match.

So we all came away from this trip sad not to have taken all three points. But if you'd asked us at the beginning we would have taken any result that earned us at least a point.

Effect on the relative teams' positions. This week in Division one the top two teams beat the bottom two while the other six all managed to conjure up draws meaning the whole table stayed in exactly the same positions Morton 5th and Livi in 6th.

For many years as a Douglas Adams fan I have long known that the ultimate answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything should be 42. However, I’m quite sure that as a sci-fan fan who was also brought up with Star Trek that the question was not 'How long should the British police be able to detain a suspect without charge?'.

For this sadly is the new number that has been arbitrarily picked by someone at the home office, following the failure of 90 and 56 to be the figure that people might love to up the ante from the original 14 days a few years ago, which itself had been an increase from 7 which itself was 3 more than the police had at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Newsnight last night did a pastiche of the Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy to explain the whole story leading to 42 days. However, it looks like the graphics have got worse over almost 30 years, so much for CGI at the Beeb, or at least in the news department.

42 to me has always been a nice friendly number just like the words ‘Don’t Panic’ were on the guide. To have it associated, and I hope only briefly, with another attempt by Labour to extend the time frame in which humans can be held without charge is another backward step.

Now I don’t always agree with the former Tory Chancellor Ken Clarke but last night on Question Time I did, he said that the Government had yet to prove a need to extend, let alone double, the period that was so recently reached only as a compromise. All they point out is that one or two cases have reached the end of he period but to me this is not a valid reason to extend. This is merely an example of Parkinson’s law, where work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. It doesn’t mean that any more time is needed for the task, it may even mean that the task could be completed sooner to the same standards if less time was available and more concentration exercised on it earlier.

Personally if 42 does somehow become the Government’s answer to this question I’d remove the word don’t and say PANIC!!! Because while the US has to charge within 48 hours not 42 days, they do have an interment camp at Guantanamo Bay so the Isle of Man may be partially returned to its WWII status if we not careful and Brown tries to imitate Bush too much.

Disclaimer

Please note the above list is from across the whole spectrum of politics. I do not personally subscribe to all the opinions contained within them, however they are as full a reflection as I can find of the divergence of political thought, commentary and motivation.

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